Nearly a year after the announcement, the Trump Mobile T1 smartphone started shipping to those who pre-ordered it and some members of the media. Notably, the company isn’t marketing the $499 handset as “Made in the USA”. Now, a teardown of the Trump T1 Phone by iFixit has confirmed our worst fears. The source has confirmed that Trump’s offering is just a duplicate of the HTC U24 Pro.
The Trump T1 Phone feels outdated because it clones a 2024 device
The repair team at iFixit recently did a physical teardown of the Trump Phone T1 and confirmed what many hardware enthusiasts suspected for months. The source took the phone apart and found that it is an older HTC U24 Pro smartphone from 2024 with a fresh coat of gold paint. Detailed inspection of the device suggests that the internal components of the Trump phone are completely identical to HTC’s offering, except for the battery size.
When the iFixit team looked inside the Trump Phone T1, it discovered an architectural match with the HTC U24 Pro smartphone. The team also took the main circuit board from HTC’s device and placed it directly into the new T1 chassis. The phone powered on and booted up without any issues.
A Chinese manufacturer designed and built the phone
It’s worth pointing out that Trump Mobile initially claimed its goal was to make an American-made device. However, iFixit’s teardown mentions that a Chinese manufacturer designed and made the handset. The manufacturer sources the vast majority of the device’s parts from China. Also, Trump Mobile changed its website wording to state that it builds the phone with American values.
The primary functional change between the Trump Phone T1 and the HTC U24 Pro comes down to the power source. The former has a 5,000mAh battery, which is slightly bigger than the 4,600mAh cell found inside the original HTC smartphone.
Other than the battery capacity, the remaining changes are purely cosmetic. Trump’s device has a gold exterior, an American flag graphic on the back, and a speaker grill with seven circular holes instead of six pill-shaped ones. Despite the lack of new hardware, the Trump Phone T1 sells for about the same price tag as the HTC device when the company launched it two years ago.
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